For where the bridegroom stood was space—his form was gone in air;
And the lonely sire embraced his child in agonies of despair!
From his place behind the railing came the shorn and shaven priest,
And quoth he, while the expectant crowd stood mute and held their breath —
“Take up the dead: its Nameless Groom was the Invisible Death.”
OUT OF DOORS.
———
BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
———